By Jonathan Turner, Hola America
Lily Almanza is an extraordinary young woman, who pours her heart, intelligence and curiosity into everything she does.
And the 17-year-old Moline High student does A LOT – painting, drawing, dancing, and architecture. This past spring, she earned two awards from the Quad City Arts 49th-annual High School Art Invitational — Amy Whiteman Memorial Award for Portraiture and Best in Show for “The Compassion,” a six-foot-by-four-foot painting of a friend of hers and her younger sister.
Quad City Arts awarded $9,500 to local students and art instructors and the exhibit ran through April 30, with artwork from 15 schools from both sides of the river, 20 exhibiting instructors, and 168 student entries.
Dawn Wohlford-Metallo, visual arts director for Quad City Arts, said Lily was picked best this year since the three judges “overwhelmingly felt that her painting stood out above the rest of the entries in the High School Art Invitational. I must note that the competition was stiff, as there were many exemplary works of art,” she noted.
Lily also is a “polished and confident dancer as part of Ballet Folklorico,” Wohlford-Metallo said. In her winning, comforting portrait, her friend is holding rosary beads, which reflects Lily’s Catholic upbringing.
“All my artwork is really about obviously me and my culture and Catholicism. It’s very Mexican culture,” she said. “And I saw her rosary and I was like, we should put a rosary in there. Because the way the rosary is placed, I basically wanted a sign of protection.”
Lily appreciates her family and her culture, and uses her art to pay tribute to them.
“I’m still young, so I don’t have that many hardships, but after some difficulties that I’ve had, I always go back to the most important thing is my family,” she said. “My religion just really reminds me of my family, especially my grandma. She’s always giving me and my sister rosaries.” Lily has a 20-year-old sister and 15-year-old brother.
Last fall, Lily was exhibited at Quad City Arts in downtown Rock Island for the first time with two very colorful paintings, reflecting her Mexican heritage. The exhibit of 30-plus pieces – Voces y Visiones: A Celebration of Hispanic Art – was presented in partnership with Mercado on Fifth.
“It was fun, honestly. I think it was fun because it was a whole event honoring Hispanic artists,” she said, noting the two paintings’ subjects were from QC Ballet Folklorico, the company Lily has danced with since 7th grade.
“Lily is a rare self-taught savant,” said Mercado executive director Frances Williams. “She intuitively and instinctually picked up painting at age 9 and used to learn from watching Bob Ross on TV. Talk about an empowered, determined and focused future leader.”
She first saw Lily’s art in 2024, the inaugural year of Mercado’s Rinconcito de Arte (Little Art Corner) at its community center at 423 12th St., Moline. She displayed a piece she painted in middle school that “even at her age was a skilled landscape that looked to be done by someone much older,” Williams said.
“Lily’s talent reminds me of the same drive and resilience I see in Mercado’s entrepreneurs,” she added. “Her medium of creativity just happens to be art instead of food or goods. It’s just as important that our creative community find ways to transform their own life’s prosperity and to do it here locally without having to leave their hometown to see success. We as their community must do our part to support them in their journey – even if it takes them away temporarily to Italy.”
Evangelina Alba, Lily’s mom, immigrated to Moline in 1993 from Guanajuato, Mexico, and is very proud of her.
“She’s not ashamed of her roots, even though she doesn’t speak Spanish, but she loves everything about our culture,” she said.
Lily has been seriously doing art since her first high school class her sophomore year, with her art teacher, Elizabeth Nache. She recommended Lily take art classes with veteran artist Pat Bereskin at her Art Academy at the Figge. She called Bereskin “super nice” and she pushes her harder to be a better artist.
“She feels like a grandmother to me, which is super,” Lily said. “I think it really makes me emotional, but, like, in a good way. I can’t explain.”
“She’s phenomenal,” Bereskin said. “She has natural ability, but also attention to detail. And her gift is being able to see what’s really there and beyond.”
Lily studies with her two hours every week, and plans to go with Bereskin who’s taking a group of 13 students to Italy for 15 days (starting June 11), including Florence, Milan and Tuscany.
“A lot of it is, we’re seeing artwork, some of the most iconic pieces of artwork at different museums,” Bereskin said of the trip. “They’ll be seeing artwork, will be touring different churches.”
“Her teacher at school has been a wonderful mentor to her, but it was because of the raw talent that the two of us both have seen that she desired to go much further,” Bereskin said, noting Lily uses her religious faith to inspire much of her art.
“As subject matter, as an underlying current in all of the pieces that I’ve seen,” Bereskin said. “She has a subtle way of showing consciousness in the pieces, to show joy or sorrow as a way, that there’s something special there.”
“She is thoughtful. She is dedicated, a woman of her word,” Bereskin said. “Coming to do something, for deadline. She meets the deadline. You know, she says true. She’s true to her craft. She works diligently. She’s just incredible.
Lily has never been to Europe (she went with her family to Dominican Republic when she was little), and while in Milan, Lily hopes to see one of the most famous paintings of all time — Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” (c. 1495–1498), housed in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
“Mrs. B is also excited for me to go, she said, because it’s very Catholic,” Lily said of Bereskin. “I’m looking forward to it because it will be so different — painting there, seeing different things. Like seeing land and the architecture.”
Through taking a design and drafting class at the Area Career Center at East Moline’s United Township High School, Lily signed up for a weekly architecture camp, which she did March 31-May 19 at Streamline Architects in Moline.
She’s interested in pursuing architecture as a career, since it involves two of her loves – art and math.
“I’m not super good at English because there’s so many like, combinations,” she said. “But math, there’s just one right answer to each problem.” As for a possible career, “I just don’t know what I want,” she added. “I just love dancing, but I love art. But then also, like, what about architecture? I’m glad they’re in all the same category, the arts.”
“I feel like art gives me a satisfaction, and architecture, like those three things,” Lily said. “Dancing gives me satisfaction. They give me satisfaction where I just want to, like, do it. I never want to stop.”
In her artist statement, she wrote: “To me, art is not just painting and drawing; it is an expression through dance, music, movement, design and the many ways ideas can be expressed visually, physically, and emotionally. Being able to create, perform and express myself in these different ways is something that I truly love.”
She’s looking forward to Italy to help her grow as an artist, and explore the varieties of historical design, culture and architecture. Lily is displaying several of her artworks at Mercado, hoping to sell them to help pay for her trip of a lifetime.
See more photos from Lily Almanza’s artwork and community showcases in the gallery below!
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